Page 23 - 101 Dynamite Answers to Interview Questions

16 Nail the Job Interview!

outcome, you must be aware of changing interview situations and handle
each variable in the best manner possible.
While many interviewees expect interviewers to be in the driver’s seat
- intelligent, confident, competent, and in control - in fact many inter-
viewers have no training in interviewing, let alone personnel interviewing.
They may be hesitant or unsure of themselves, asking many questions
that may be irrelevant to the job under consideration, or simply restating
information contained in the applicant’s resume. If the interviewer is from
outside the personnel department, he may conduct interviews infre-
quently. If he is from the operational unit, rather than personnel, he may
view the time consumed to conduct an interview as taking valuable time
away from the work at hand. He may
In te,-view in - also feel very uncomfortable doing some-
thing - conducting the interview - that
a great he knows he hasn’t had much exDerience
I
more than karnh7g with. In other words, he is far from being
appropriate an- in the driver’s seat. Indeed, you may

swers to expected have to help him through the interview!
Although there are several different
interview questions, interview types and each interview is
different from other interviews, there are
enough similarities for each type of interview that one should be able to
develop a set of expectations that will be useful.
Let’s describe the interview situation in comprehensive terms. We
include several types of interviews along with interviewers, and interview-
ees’ goals and various interview settings, questioning techniques, and
structures you are most likely to encounter. These variables are outlined
and related to one another in the diagram on page 17.
This chapter should help you identify the types of playing fields you
will most likely encounter with a single employer or with many different
employers. You will quicldy discover interview slcills involve a great deal
more than learning appropriate answers to expected interview questions.
At the very least you must be prepared to encounter many different types
of settings for interviews, which may involve anything from climbing out
of the shower to answer a telephone call that unexpectedly becomes a
screening interview to encountering a panel of interviewers who engage
you in a two-hour stress interview. You also must be prepared for
different questioning techniques as well as the overall structure and flow